Characters / Yozakura Quartet

Protagonists

Hime Yarizakura

Voiced by: Misato Fukuen

Teenaged mayor of Sakura-shinmachi who inherited the position from her late grandmother when she was only 9 years old. Hime is hot-tempered and overbearing, and wholly dedicated to those around her. Despite periodic bouts of selfish immaturity, she truly wants the best for the town and her friends and will fight to achieve it without compromising her ideals.

• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: A subversion. Though she has the looks and seems unapproachable, Hime is revealed to be a bit of a goofball and everyone sees past her attempts to look serious and coddle her instead.
• Badass Adorable: Hime may be more understated example, but between her Tsundere tendencies and various quirks, she easily qualifies.
• Badass Arm-Fold: Hime striking this pose while overlooking the town is arguably the most iconic shot of the series and is retained in all three incarnations of the series. It's even how she's introduced in the manga and 2008 anime.
• Berserk Button: Do not seriously injure or kill Akina. She will abandon her usual fighting style and actively attempt to kill you.
• Brought Down to Badass: Downplayed example. In spite of being weakened by anti-youkai barriers on two separate occasions, she's so far been the only one to still be able to defend herself under this condition. Unfortunately, this can only get her so far, and she eventually succumbs to the intended effects.
• Bad Liar: Played for Laughs.
  Hime: (holding up a still-living fish) They call me "The Mermaid of Sakura-shinmachi."
• Big Eater: Eats multiple servings of ramen per day and can gobble down entire rice dumplings while fast asleep. She eats even more when drunk.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Hime manages to keep a small suburb running on a day-to-day basis with no more than a single adviser/assistant to help her. She also happens to be a high school student, a mediator for human-youkai relations, and the town's first line of defence against rogue youkai.
• Childhood Friends: With Akina. She'd like for it to be a Childhood Friend Romance, though.
• Can't Hold Her Liquor: Like the rest of the teenage cast, Hime gets intoxicated very quickly; just one sip of alcohol is enough to make her upset, break down in tears, and eat uncontrollably.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: In the more recent parts of the manga, she's shown to be this, most notably at sports. In spite of her superhuman reflexes, it seems she's not that good at playing lacrosse and while she's not outright bad at it, she's she easiest person to play against in table tennis.
• Deuteragonist: Together with Akina. As the mayor of the town, the story focuses on the difficulties of trying to maintain a town that's shared by both humans and youkai.
• Eye Tropes:
  • Hellish Pupils: Averted. Her pupils are serpentine slits, as fitting for her being a dragon, but she's a kind, caring girl. Later volumes of the manga soften this feature.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Also averted.
• Flower Motifs: Cherry Blossoms.
• Force and Finesse: Thanks to her agility and technique, she's the Finesse to Kyousuke's Force.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric.
• Go-Getter Girl: She prioritizes her duties as mayor rather than join clubs at school or pursue pastimes typical for a girl her age.
• Hair Color Dissonance: In the manga and official art, her hair swings between black and dark brown. In animated adaptations, it simply sticks with black. But at least one piece of official art gives her blue hair.
• Hot-Blooded: She will approach just about anything with an unparalleled fervor.
• Ice-Cream Koan: Makes up and tries to popularize her own "historical idioms." Everyone just nods and lets the first one pass as if it was actually something profound until Ao, who's heard it from her all day, snaps and demands to know what the hell Hime is saying.

  Hime: "As they say, 'The wise monk scoops white jade.'"

• Idiot Hair: It sprouts a flower when she's particularly happy.
• Image Song: Has three prominent ones. She sings "Yakusoku no Veil" as her solo song, "Narihibike! Sakurashin-machi Sanka" as a duet with Akina, and "Kashimashi Kashima" as a group song with Ao and Kotoha.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Worries about being this, for the position of mayor. She isn't.
• Ironic Fear: Absolutely hates heights when she's not jumping.
• Large Ham: At times.
• The Leader: A very distinguished Type III.
• Lady of War: She will keep her poise in battle to the best of her ability.
• Leg Focus: Kotoha thinks her legs are very attractive.
• Love Triangle: A mild, friendly one with Touka, over Akina. He hasn't noticed.
• Magnetic Hero: In the backstory. She found most of the cast as children and offered them sanctuary in the town.
• One-Man Army: Can easily take down fallen lizards that are dozens the times the size of a regular human.
• Our Dragons Are Different: She comes from a long line of dragons that have taken it upon themselves to govern the town.
• Passionate Sports Girl: Loves sports, even if she's not very good at them.
• Perpetual Frowner: She almost always has a serious frown on her face to try and keep up her ideal image of an unwavering leader in front of others and to make up for being timid and easily brought to tears when she was younger. However, it's made clear early on that she's been doing this out of habit since even before she took up the position of mayor and the townspeople don't mind in the slightest. She eases up on this in the later parts of the manga as well as in Hana no Uta.
• Physical Scars, Psychological Scars: When a scar is left on her neck as a result of sealing most of her power, a small Hime is distraught at how it looks and first alerts Hime to the burden of being a demon.
• Plucky Girl: She doesn't care if maintaining the peace and safety between both youkai and humans is a very difficult, almost impossible task; she can and will do anything she can to make it work.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: It's repeatedly stated that Hime's the strongest demon in the series, and has done well on proving it on many occasions.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: With Akina. Not that they're a couple. Not that she'd mind.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Her iconic scarf, which she wears all the time. Even when swimming.
• School Uniforms are the New Black: She will always wear her school uniform unless she's training or sleeping.
• Super-Senses: She's exhibited enhanced eyesight, and may possibly have others.
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: A Running Gag with Kyousuke.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Ramen, followed closely by noodles of any other sort.
• Tsurime Eyes: To fit the aesthetic of the serious, action-oriented leader.
• Tsundere: Only a mild example herself. But she has a song.
• Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: Schoolgirl, mayor of Sakura-shinmachi, and front-line combatant against anything that threatens the town. And everyone loves her for it, because there is no Masquerade requiring the secrecy that normally informs this trope.
• When She Smiles: Kyousuke's quick to notice when Hime's in a genuinely good mood and seems fond of her smiles.
• The Wonka: Due to her role as the town's protector and her dragon heritage, Hime's position as mayor is both hereditary and for life. As eccentric and goofy as she is, Hime takes all aspects of her job seriously.

Akina Hiizumi

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji

Head of the Hiizumi Life Counseling Office, Akina is also the last heir of the Hiizumi family line and the power of Tuning. His office keeps track of the youkai in town and helps them adjust to city life, and acts as an informal team headquarters for the protagonists. His work is full-time, though he is assisted by Ao and Kotoha. Upbeat and optimistic, Akina is the oldest and thus usually the most level-headed and grounded of the core group. He has his moments to the contrary, though.

---

• Adaptation Personality Change: In the 2008 anime, Akina is more uncertain as to how he should go about protecting the town as the Oyakume and dealing with the various burdens that come with it. While he's still outgoing and somewhat relaxed, the 2008 adaptation focuses on the stress of inheriting such a dangerous responsibility as opposed to his manga counterpart's slow, but steady acceptance of it in order to benefit others in ways his predecessors didn't. Justified as the 2008 anime changes or lacks details the manga had or added later on, which would make his personality natural, given the context of the adaptation.
  • The 2008 anime doesn't give Akina the option of tuning someone without sending them straight to the Otherworld, making his situation much more grave.
  • His first exposure to tuning is also changed dramatically and would justify his different approach in the different mediums. In the manga, Akina simply looks on as Machi is tuned, with the latter smiling until she disappears completely. In the anime? He's held back as he's shouting at his grandfather to spare a small, lizard demon that is tied down to a post and struggling to break free. Makiharu solemnly insists that this duty is something that he will eventually inherit, and proceeds to tune the demon, leaving a charred black corpse where the demon used to be.
• The Apprentice: At Iruka's suggestion, he's taking up swordsmanship under her tutelage in order to make better use of Oni Killer.
• Accidental Pervert: He's occasionally forced into compromising situations and is usually beaten up afterwards.
  • Taken up a notch in Yoza Quart, in which he accidentally gropes a girl's breasts at least once per segment.
• Anime Hair: Normally not so, but after one or two tunings his hair gets spiky and stands out in improbable ways.
• Bash Brothers: Non-Action Guy-tendencies notwithstanding, he's this to Kyousuke.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's only slightly less prone to goofing off compared to the rest of the cast, given how only he and Kyousuke are the ones who have to keep them in line, but he's displayed a remarkable amount of tact in dire situations and retains his cool in the thick of battle.
• Benevolent Boss: He is the official leader of the Counseling Office. He even does some of Kotoha's work when she's slacking off.
• Berserk Button: Do not question the value and equality of youkai around Akina. He nearly tunes the Senate when Usuzumi tells him it would be best to eliminate the youkai from Earth, blasting a sizable chunk of the building into the Otherworld.
• Characterization Marches On: In the first chapter of the manga, he is relaxing in an inflatable pool in the office in the middle of winter when Hime tries to deliver the news of the serial shootings, and even attempts to pay for everyone's meals by using the counseling office's budget. Over the course of the next few chapters, it's shown how well he keeps the main cast together.
• Childhood Friends: With Hime.
• Combat Pragmatist: In contrast to Hime's and Kyousuke's brute force and Kotoha's unpredictability, Akina is capable of coming up with effective strategies on the spot when he's given the opportunity. Best exemplified during the "Oni Tale" arc. He doesn't hesitate in trying to tune Iruka while she's distracted, even though it doesn't quite stick. He also suggests having Hime and Kotoha switch places when they're fighting Murasaki and Iruka respectively to even out the advantages the latter two had over them. He's clearly guilty about this instance, as he knows Touka wouldn't take Hime seemingly abandoning her well.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Tuning and dropping, though he doesn't know it yet.
• Determinator:
  Shidare: Let's say life in this town gets 80 percent. Just maybe, the Otherworld is a paradise for youkai and gets 100 percent. Have you ever thought about that?
  Akina: In that case, it's settled...If the Otherworld gets 100 percent, then we'll make sure this town gets 120 percent! That's our way!
• Deuteragonist: Alongside Hime. The story continually tests Akina's ideals and methods to fulfill them, as he is a more figurative leader of the town.
• Empowered Badas Normal: Aside from being the Oyakume, he's a completely normal guy.
• Expy: Of Mikado from Durarara!! in more ways than one.
• The Fettered: Akina is an interesting case. While he, like his grandfather, defies what is expected of the Oyakume by avoiding tuning (read: killing) others if he can help it, he has still taken up the mantle nonetheless and is fully prepared to use his powers in the expected manner if it's clear there's no other option.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Leukine.
• Flower Motifs: As with Hime, he also has a Cherry Blossom motif. However, his association with cherry blossoms is more apparent, as cherry blossoms commonly symbolize how transient, but beautiful life is—which is more or less *Akina's approach to just about anything. Furthered in the Tatsunoko adaptations, wherein his utilizing Tuning is accompanied by a small flurry of cherry blossom petals.
• The Generic Guy
  Kotoha: "What's something you can see but has no real presence?"
  Ao: "Umm...Akina-san!!"
  Kotoha: "Correct!"
• Good Is Not Soft:
• Glass Cannon: Tuning can be used to annihilate nearly any object or entity by sending it into the Otherworld, but it takes quite a bit of time and effort to focus it on a youkai or half-youkai that is trying to tear the user apart, especially since it works by hand contact.
• Harmful to Minors: His first exposure to tuning in the 2008 anime, as detailed in Adaptation Personality Change. Somewhat averted in the main series, as his witnessing Machi's tuning didn't impart any long-lasting damage to his psyche.
• Identical Grandson: Is one for Makiharu and, by extension, most of the main Hiizumi line.
• Image Song: Sings "Halation Rotation" and "Narihibike! Sakurashin-machi Sanka", with the latter being a duet with Hime.
• I Will Protect Her: Promises Machi before her tuning that he'll take care of Hime.
• Kamehamehadoken: The form his Tuning tends to take in the anime. In the manga, things mostly just disappear in a flash of light.
• The Leader: Usually a Type II, and can be a more benevolent Type I, but he's capable of the dark pragmatism said Type entails if the need arises.
• Non-Action Guy: To his dismay, as he lacks the strength, speed, and powers of the youkai cast, and because strenuous use of his own power is exceptionally dangerous. He still manages a few Big Damn Hero moments from time to time though, and it is by his power alone that half-youkai can be exorcised. But now that he's been given Oni Killer and intends to train under Iruka with it, Akina may finally subvert this.
• Oblivious to Love: Unfortunately, for both Hime and Touka.
• Occult Detective: What he's introduced as. Part of being the Hiizumi Life Counseling Office director is investigating demonic influence in mysteries plaguing the town.
• Power Degeneration: He's not completely immune to the power he channels, as using it too much will send him sliding off to the Otherworld. To prevent this from happening, he needs to periodically re-tune himself with the help of another human.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: The most visible sign of Power Degeneration - the longer it gets, the closer he is to slipping away.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Akina is a great cook and handy with a sewing needle.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: With Hime.
• Took a Level in Badass: On top of what he already does for the team, he took one when he becomes able to predict Iruka's attacks and goes so far as to pull off a Barehanded Blade Block against her Oni Killer before she can kill Kyousuke.
• Team Mom: Has shades of this. Tagteams with Ao.
• Token Human: The only full human in the main cast.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kyousuke.

Kotoha Isone

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro

A half-youkai "Kotodama-user," who has the power to make her words into reality. Kotoha is a high school student and part-time worker at the Hiizumi Life Counseling Office, and a self-proclaimed gun nut. Due to the versatility of her powers, they let her provide a great deal of support for Hime and Kyousuke in a fight —at least until her voice gives out.

• Blood Knight: One overarching conflict for her is that she may or may not be one deep down.
• Calling Your Attacks: Essentially the basis of her powers.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Kotodama aside, Kotoha is also ridiculously physically capable - she has incredible reflexes and coordination, and can jump extremely far and high. It's never suggested her physical capabilities are due to being a half-youkai. If it is a half-youkai power, then she did pretty well for herself in the Superpower Lottery.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Has varying shades of this in the manga, but is outright one in Hana no Uta.
• Confusion Fu: Thanks to her powers, this is her preferred method of attack, provided her opponent is one that tries to think things through. She's decidedly less effective against people try to brute-force their way through battles, like Hime or Iruka.
• Crazy-Prepared: Kotoha's tendency to create "shortcuts" to random things that she finds fun or cool can end up looking like she's Crazy-Prepared. Other times she's completely unprepared, lacking shortcuts for even very basic useful things like band-aids. As for the way she creates shortcuts? At some point she licked those German artillery cannons.
• Face Death with Dignity: In the manga version of the "Hoshi no Umi" arc, she destroys Zakuro's colossal golem as she's falling from a lethal height. Afterwards, she only closes her eyes solemnly as she falls. Thankfully, Hime catches her before she lands.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Overlapping with Demonic Possession.
• Image Song: Sings "Mirai Install" and "Kashimashi Kashima", with the latter being sung together with Hime and Ao.
• Joshikousei: She even has "sailor uniform" as a shortcut.
• More Dakka: In the first anime, she summons machine pistols. In the manga, she summons bullets that fire mid-air. In the OVA, she uses planes.
  Kotoha: ''Dadadadadadadadadadadada...!''
• Mundane Utility: Most applications of her power. Examples include: nails, band-aids, school uniforms, lampposts, and German 8.8cm Flak 36 artillery guns.
• Otaku: For German WWII military hardware.
• Purely Aesthetic Glasses: But she does wear contacts.
• Reality Warper: She can literally conjure anything out of thin air, so long as she can mentally grasp its form and describe it in words. Using her power too much hurts her throat, though, and can lead to laryngitis.
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Some of her summons use vocalized sound effects as keywords.
• Summon Magic / Words Can Break My Bones: Her Youkai power, which allows her to create objects by naming or describing them. Natural and simple objects she can get away with naming, anything artificial and particularly complicated she must describe. She can also lick an object to assign a "shortcut" word or phrase to recreate it later (such as "Acht-Acht," German for "Eight-Eight," to create the 8.8cm Flak 36 artillery gun). Improper materialization will result in nothing but the words themselves appearing out of thin air.
• Supernatural Sensitivity: Half-youkai can sense youkai power, and are able to distinguish humans, youkai, and half-youkai as a result. It provides an important clue when Kotoha and Zakuro sense no youkai power from Lila.
• Unsound Effect: When using her power to create an elemental force (such as ice or wind), she can simply call the effect by name in order to make it appear. Other times, when she's low on strength, trying to summon something instead summons the literal words hanging in air - though she's also done just that to make the word "quickly" float around her so others got the visual impression she was working diligently.

Ao Nanami

Voiced by: Saki Fujita

Kind and polite, Ao is a telepathic youkai known as a Satori. A teenager the same as the rest of the protagonists, she foregoes school in favor of working full time at the Hiizumi Life Counseling Office and studying for professional certification. Ao uses her powers to provide support and back-up, preferring to stay out of the way in a fight.

• Cat Girl: A type of youkai called a Satori. Her "cat ears" are actually psychic antennae.
• Calling Your Attacks: "Satellite!"
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic.
• Girlish Pigtails: Sported them in a flashback.
• Image Song: Sings "Tekizai Tekisho Satellite" and "Kashimashi Kashima", with the latter being sung together with Hime and Kotoha.
• Little Bit Beastly: While she has a set of antennae that only look like cat ears, she does possess cat-like qualities like lapses in coherency when in the midst of catnip (or similar substances), a fondness for tummy rubs, and screeching when surprised that qualify her for this trope.
• Official Couple: With Kotoha in the 2013 anime.
• Squishy Wizard: Ao is the only one who is less physically-inclined than Akina, since her powers can act at range and his tuning requires him to be up close.
• Telepathy: And all the attendant uses, though she didn't realize the potential went much beyond mind-reading until Enjin revealed some of his tricks. Mind-reading, projecting illusions into people's minds, even coordinating the others during the fight against Zakuro.
  • Master of Illusion: In training.
  • Psychic Radar: Essentially a supercharged version of her regular mind-reading power that probes the minds of everyone within a radius of a few kilometres. However, even using it for little less than a minute will burn enough energy to leave her hungry and exhausted.
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: She mentions having a great "intelligence network" in an early chapter, implied to have used her telepathy to communicate with birds, but the idea is not really brought up again from there.
• Took a Level in Badass: Upon learning that her telepathy can do so much more than read minds. She and Touka drive Enjin off on their own at one point, when he's set on stealing Ao's energy for himself.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Rice. She's perfectly content to eat only rice for meals.

Kyousuke Kishi

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono

Kyousuke is Hime's personal assistant, dedicated to keeping her focused when she'd prefer to slack off, and otherwise manages her lifestyle (or tries to). He is also an oni, with phenomenal strength (that he fears) and a temperamental personality (that he clamps down on, hard). He and his sister Touka were taken into Hime's home when they were children on the run from those who hated and feared youkai. Like Ao, he has taken up employment instead of attending high school.

• Anger Born of Worry: See Properly Paranoid below.
• Ascended Extra: While he's far from a minor character, he has a considerably expanded role in the 2008 anime, wherein he fights alongside the main cast from the very first episode.
  • Adaptational Badass: In addition to getting many more expanded scenes, Kyousuke is a much more competent fighter and is only slightly hindered by the anti-youkai barrier as opposed to being outright debilitated by its activation in the manga.
• Badass Bookworm: Hime notes that he should've gone on to college instead of stick with being her secretary, since he likes studying. In addition, reading is one of his hobbies. One bit in the 2008 anime even has him doing detective work, alongside the police.
• Bash Brothers: With Akina, in spite of their bickering.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: It's heavily implied that his immense loyalty and even closeness to Hime is due to her being the very first person that was ever nice to him and Touka.
• Beleaguered Assistant
• Berserk Button: Do not endanger Touka in any possible way. He will go Knight Templar Big Brother on your ass. A smaller button would be the mention of his sister complex, which Akina presses whenever possible.
• Big Brother Instinct: When his sister complex over Touka is considered to be his most notable trait among the cast, this goes without saying, but even before Touka's introduction, Kyousuke is shown to be happy when taking care of small children and protects Ao at a moment's notice.
• Big Damn Heroes: He's actually quite fond of this trope.
• The Big Guy: His main contribution to a fight is his titanic strength.
• Blue Oni: Quite literally. Plays this role to his sister and Hime.
• Butt-Monkey: BIG time.
  • Iron Butt Monkey: Thanks to his powers.
• Character Tics: He adjusts his glasses whenever he tries to make a point. Early on in the manga, he particularly favored adjusting them by the bridge.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Revealed to be the Kishi siblings' origin, as they were both born due to a collective, unconscious use of kotodama from how widespread the "Legend of the Oni" is. However, this is also their weakness. If people forget what oni are, then they will fade away from existence.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Can both give and receive these.
• Declaration of Protection: He gives an intentionally downplayed instance, when he first becomes Hime's secretary.
  Hime: "Won't it be hard for you to protect Touka if you're busy?"
  (...)
  Kyousuke: (smiling) "I'll manage somehow. Ever since I came to this town, I've wanted to protect much more."
• Demoted to Extra: In the Tatsunoko adaptations, he has fewer scenes.
  • Adaptational Wimp / Flanderization: What scenes that do feature him make him that much more turn up his Butt-Monkey tendencies, make him more easily flustered, gets him swiftly beaten in battle despite his being on the same level as Hime, and oversimplify his well-placed concern for Touka and turn him into an irrational worrywart.
• Disney Death: Murasaki is able to make everyone forget what oni are, which causes Kyousuke to disappear. However, through the combination of Ao bringing the information back through Satellite and everyone still remembering who Kyousuke is as an individual existence, Akina is able to bring him back.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: A constant worry. Uses his shackle to keep it under control. Takes it off when it's time to get dangerous.
• Drunk on Milk: Makes fun of everyone else at a small party for getting drunk off a small amount of sake, then promptly gets drunk on Coke.
• Expy: Of Shizuo from Durarara!!. They even share the same voice actor!
• Facepalm of Doom: Kyousuke dishes out non-lethal variants to human opponents, like Shinozuka and the gunman from the first episode of the 2008 anime. It's a subtle detail that reflects the cast's Thou Shalt Not Kill mentality.
• First-Name Basis: With Hime, but only when they're alone. He refers to her as "Oujo-sama" otherwise.
• Foil: Is one to Akina and has one in Shinozuka.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic.
• Force and Finesse: By relying on his tremendous strength and relative invulnerability, e's the Force to Hime's Finesse, which is ironic, given how he's the one he watches over Hime's training.
• Friend to All Children: The first instance of him smiling in the manga is when he's helping Hime take care of pre-schoolers. One of them even gives him an origami crane, to which he looks genuinely happy. Subverted in regards to Kohime.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Amusingly enough, with Akina. When Kyousuke's the only other one scheduled to work at the office in one particular chapter, Akina readily prepares him coffee and his favorite dish. ^note  It isn't stated in-story, but one of the various bits of character info found in between chapters states that beef bowl, which is what Akina cooks, is his favorite. When Touka cooks the exact same thing, it's made clear he prefers Akina's cooking over hers. It's worth noting that at this point in the manga, it's already been established that Kyousuke has a slight grudge against Akina. But after Akina's admitting that he wants to be with every demon in the town, Kyousuke included, their relations have since gotten better, to the point that Akina's become the only other person besides Hime that Kyousuke can smile openly with.
• Horned Humanoid: A visible indicator of his demonic nature. He initially used to hide them by using his shackle, but has since learned to control when they are visible without it.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Assists Hime in her duties as both mayor and protector of Sakura-shinmachi. In addition keeping her organized and focused on day-to-day tasks, Kyousuke also takes it upon himself to make sure that she's properly fed and in good health. He also supervises her training and is a frequent sparring partner.
• Image Song: Sings "phaser braver" and "Choryoku Buddy!!" with the latter being a duet with Touka.
• Improvised Weapon / Improvised Armour: When he's in a pinch, he'll rely on more than just his strength to get through a fight.
  • Telephone Polearm: Has used one on two separate occasions.
• I Will Protect Her: He will go to any lengths to keep Touka safe. In a flashback, Hime even convinces him to come live in Sakura-shin by saying he'd learn to protect Touka better there. In the flashback right after that, it's shown that this extends to Hime as well, having chosen to become her secretary rather than just another worker in the Hiizumi Life Counseling Office.
• Japanese Christian: It's implied that he's a Christian, thanks to Yae mentioning offhand that he talks about Touka during confessions.
• Knight in Sour Armor: In the early parts of the manga. Before being found by Hime, all he was ever concerned about was Touka's safety. Even after they started living in Sakura-shin, Kyousuke goes about the idea of human-youkai coexistence quite cynically and would have preferred it if he and Touka were in the Otherworld, where they would be safe and accepted. However, when Akina makes it clear he prefers being with the demons of the town instead of tuning them, he's since shed the armor and advocates the town's cause alongside everyone else.
• Made of Iron: An oni-specific power.
  • Immune to Bullets: The first, but subtle use of the above trope is shown when Kyousuke calmly blocks a stray bullet from Kotoha that was aimed at Ao.
• Mr. Exposition: An in-universe subversion. It's clear he enjoys providing miscellaneous tidbits of information about Hakone during the trip there, despite no one really needing it.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Has not explicitly said this to anyone —*cough*Akina*ahem*— but it's written all over his attitude towards Touka's relationships with others. Kyousuke has extended this stance to Murasaki after the latter is forced to give up, since he's fully intent on studying her further.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Zigzagged. As Hime's assistant, he's resigned himself to put up with most of her antics. But when she acts out of line or loses confidence, he will speak his mind to better the situation. And while he does know there are lines he shouldn't cross, he gets around this by "taking breaks" from being her assistant to make sure he doesn't cross any.
• No Badass to His Valet: Normally, he tries to play the Valet for Hime, as he normally has to put up with her over-the-top tendencies with varying levels of success, but he fits this trope much better as the Badass to Akina's Valet, as Akina sees past Kyousuke's attempts to look more serious than he really is and teases him despite how quickly Kyousuke's temper can flare up.
• Not So Above It All: He will occasionally join in on the very antics he was admonishing, and consequently end up making a fool of himself.
• On The Next Episode Of Catchphrase:
  Kyousuke: "Tune in next time."
• Perpetual Frowner: Though he isn't above smiling.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: In the OVA, Kyousuke's hair turns pale blue when he takes off his shackle.
• The Power of Love: His immense love for Touka is ultimately what saves her when Murasaki tries to erase them from existence, as his own thoughts and memories of her was enough to keep her from disappearing like he did.
• Power Limiter: His shackle. Also a Magic Feather.
• Promotion to Parent: Averted. With the revelation that oni like him and Touka are conceived purely out of thought rather than from another youkai, Kyousuke's essentially had to take care of Touka for all of his life.
• Properly Paranoid: In Touka's introductory chapter and episode 3 of Hana no Uta, Kyousuke scolds Touka for going outside while injured, thinking she's going to lose control of her powers again. Shortly after, Touka wrecks the office, ruins Shidou's car and accidentally snaps the necks of Mina and Kana.
• Psychotic Smirk: Can deliver pretty mean ones.
• The Reliable One: Constantly does what he can to help the cast, even if his actions are often overlooked are under-appreciated.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky
• Shock and Awe: To some extent, in the 2008 anime.
  • Elemental Punch: Employs these in combat, as a result.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: He's somewhat cold, calm, diligent, and has a better handle on his powers than Touka. But later chapters show that he really does have a lot in common with Touka, such as a similar hatred for his powers, a lack of control over it, and a tendency to self-deprecate when things go awry.
• Sibling Theme Naming: Possibly. "Kyou" written with a different kanji could translate to "apricot." The first kanji in Touka's name translates to "peach."
• Socially Awkward Hero: He has trouble relaxing or even talking to most of the cast outside of a professional context, and is usually teased by everyone for it to boot.
• Stoic Spectacles: In the beginning of the manga, Kyousuke mostly kept to himself and only spoke up when necessary. Since then, he's become much more expressive as a result of being more involved with the main conflict.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: On the whole, he's a nice guy. But it's hard to tell with his bristly disposition.
• Super-Senses: Not quite to Hime's level, but he's shown to block Iruka's attacks.
• Super-Strength: Though most youkai display varying extents of this trope, oni like Kyousuke have even more power.
• Taking the Bullet: He consistently displays this trope the most out of the main characters across the manga, anime, and OVA series.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Akina, when he's not being The Rival.
• Willfully Weak: Chooses to keep his shackle most of the time so he can avoiding hurting others.
• Worf Had the Flu: Kyousuke's one of the better fighters of the series, but various circumstances usually prevent him from showing it.

Touka Kishi

Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu

Another oni and Kyousuke's younger sister, Touka is far more personable and free-spirited than her strict older brother. She's also a bit clumsy, which causes trouble with her strength. One of Hime's closest friends, as they go to school together and share the same home. Touka has a very blatant crush on Akina, stemming from childhood when he was the first human to treat her and Kyousuke completely without fear. Akina is the only person who hasn't noticed.

• Adaptation Dye-Job: In the 2008 anime, she has dark red/brownish hair, but this is fixed in Hoshi no Umi and Hana no Uta. Somewhat justified, since despite having black hair like her brother, her hair is given a lighter shade in the manga. In addition, she had hazel eyes in the 2008 anime, which was changed to blue eyes in Hana no Uta. Both still aren't in line with her eye color in the manga, which is gray.
• Break the Cutie: The "Oni Tale" arc seems to revel in this. Thanks to Murasaki, it sinks in that she isn't nearly as useful as anyone else in the main cast and thinks she's worthless.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Revealed to be the Kishi siblings' origin, as they were both born due to a collective, unconscious use of kotodama from how widespread the "Legend of the Oni" is. However, this is also their weakness. If people forget what oni are, then they will fade away from existence.
• Cute Bruiser
• Cute Monster Girl
• Girly Bruiser: Best exemplified against Murasaki. The worst she does is slap him. Justified, as she isn't nearly as used to combat as everyone else.
• Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Like Kyousuke, occasionally has trouble managing her inhuman strength. However, she's also put a lot more practice into controlling it so she can go without her shackle, averting this more as the series goes on.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: By far the girliest of the four female protagonists, and is the only one that's consistently shown cooking. She's in charge of preparing meals in Hime's household.
• Flower Motifs: Peaches. Her given name has the kanji for peach in it, and has been granted unspecified powers connected to Momotarō as a result. The similarities between peach flowers and cherry blossoms also deepen the contrast between her and Hime.
• Foil: To Hime. Whereas Hime is mostly defined through her forsaking activities typical for a girl her age in order to become a better mayor, Touka isn't tied down by any particular obligations and fully reaps the benefits of having a normal life in Sakura-shin. Touka also possesses more raw power than Hime, but with her consistent training, Hime is clearly the better fighter. Despite being Kyousuke's original motivation to become stronger, Touka is less closer to Kyousuke than he is with Hime. Finally, while both are potential love interests for Akina, Hime's feelings look more genuine as opposed to Touka's borderline infatuation. Their contrast is even reflected in their respective motifs—both peaches and cherry blossoms have similar flowers.
• Japanese Christian: Made more explicit than with her brother, as a quick after-chapter doodle shows that she attends morning mass at Yae's church.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • When it looks like Hime has abandoned her for Murasaki to torture and study, Touka has a crushed, empty look on her face for most of the remainder of the arc, and maintains that she hasn't lost hope in spite of visible evidence to the contrary.
  • When Kyousuke disappears from existence, all she can do is repeat his name over and over again while clawing at the ground where he once stood.
• Image Song: Sings "let me say!!" and "Choryoku Buddy!!", with the latter being a duet with Kyousuke.
• Made of Iron: Though she specifically hasn't been seen to survive severe hits, the fact that this applies to her brother means it applies to her too.
• Neutral Female: Because she lacks the necessary experience to be of much help during fights, she's mostly forced to stay on the sidelines. Becomes a source of Heroic Self-Deprecation when she's captured by Murasaki and still can't do anything.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: In the OVA, her hair turns dark red when she takes off her shackle.
• Power Limiter: Her bracelet, though she eventually learns to go without it.
• Red Oni
• Sibling Yin-Yang: She's friendly, overly emotional, flighty, and has trouble keeping her powers under control when compared to her brother. Later chapters show that she has more in common with Kyousuke, such as having a similarly violent protective streak over him.
• Sibling Theme Naming: Possibly. See Kyousuke's entry, above.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: For Akina.
• Took a Level in Badass: It turns out she's been studying aikido with Juri. Readers learn this when she flips Enjin while still shackled, using none of her insane oni strength to accomplish the feat. She and Ao force him to retreat on their own.
• Zettai Ryouiki

Denizens of Sakura-Shinmachi

V Juri/Juli F (Victor Juri Frankenstein)

Voiced by: Aiko Okubo

A young English woman who came to Sakura-shinmachi in her teens to study medicine and youkai biology. High-spirited and pretty, Juri's something of a local idol and a familiar face to everyone in town, and all of the younger cast look up to her. She's also highly competent in aikido and through knowledge and technique can match or surpass even the super-strength of many youkai.

• Big Eater: Like Hime, she can also eat in her sleep.
• Dissonant Serenity: Has threatened to maim others with the sweetest of smiles on her face.
• Charles Atlas Superpower:
  • Glacier Waif-Fu: Thanks to a combination of her aikido and extensive knowledge of muscle contraction, she can muster up the the strength to stop speeding cars without crushing them, unlike Touka.
  • Minored In Ass Kicking: She can overpower Hime and Touka at the same time, but because her assets lie in treating everyone's injuries, she rarely steps up to fight, only using her strength to defend.
• Hospital Hottie: Complete with Naughty Nurse Outfit (a "family heirloom" that Yuuhi had created all the way back in the late Edo period)
• Love Triangle: Completely unaware that she is part of one with her former teacher Shidare and fellow alumni Shiina.
• The Medic: Notable in that she's the only youkai doctor in town, and probably the world.
  • Combat Medic: Juri's a doctor, but that doesn't mean she can't kick your ass.
• Ms. Fanservice: She wears an unreasonably short skirt because, she says, shorter is more cute, resulting in plenty of panty shots.
• Spell My Name With An S: A recent piece of official art gives her name as "Juli."

Yae Shinatsuhiko

Voiced by: Natsuko Kuwatani

Yae is the land goddess of Sakura-shinmachi, a sort of genius loci of the town whose presence has defined and encouraged its growth. She also dresses up as a nun and either serves at a Catholic church or uses it as her base of operations. As a goddess she's supposed to be distant from the people, but can't help but get involved. Yuuhi, the land god of Setagaya Ward, is her older brother.

• The Comically Serious: Wears an adorable bear mascot head whenever she patrols the town at night.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Yae is obsessed with teddy bears. Obsessed. When Hime ends up with an old mascot costume head that nobody else wanted, Yae gladly takes it off Hime's hands and proceeds to wear it while out at night patrolling the city for criminals.
• Meaningful Name: "Yae" comes from "yaezakura," which means "double-flowered cherry blossoms." This comes from Yuuhi's description of the cherry blossom tree he made her from.
• Named Weapons: She possesses powerful swords called "Swift Spring" and "Spring Breeze," and they are collectively called "Swift Spring Breeze".
• Naughty Nun: Despite being a goddess herself.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: spoiler: When Enjin has Yae cornered and attempts to cut her up, his the blade of his knife bends back and forth several times. "Only a god can harm a god," indeed. However, when she isn't tied down to a territory, this isn't the case.
• Power Limiter: She makes all of them for use in Sakura-shinmachi, and has been since she and Yuuhi put down roots in the area. Yuuhi admits he can't make them nearly so well or as small as she does. She also likes to slip Magic Feathers in among those she passes out.
• Reality Warper: To a certain extent within her domain as land goddess of Sakura-shinmachi.
• Really 700 Years Old: Several centuries old, at least. She and her brother Yuuhi spent many years wandering as unrooted land gods before settling down in their present domains.
• Shipper on Deck: When Tomoe declares that she'd be happy if she sees Kyousuke again, Yae looks thrilled.
• Sleep-Mode Size: She rarely uses it, but much like her brother she can take on the appearance of an adolescent to help conserve power when traveling beyond her domain.
• Stealth Mentor: Though she wants to help the main cast more, she has to abide by the unspoken rules of being a land deity and limits herself to this role.
• Weirdness Censor: One of her specialties. She made everyone forget Hime was a youkai with a spell that would also make them overlook any oddities as "just the way it is," and also hid Mariabelle and her father (who were foreigners in Japan during the isolationist Edo period).

Rin Azuma

Voiced by: Ai Matayoshi

Perky and cheerful, and always with a smile on her face, Rin is the delivery girl for the local ramen shop Houran - a job which brings her by the Life Counseling Office regularly, thanks to Hime's appetite. She is also one of the undead, a Jiang Shi who spent years on the run from people who wanted to destroy her, and she has numerous scars to cover as a result. She was brought to Sakura-shinmachi two years before the series begins, and attends the same school as Hime and Touka.

• Break the Cutie: See Dark and Troubled Past.
• Chinese Vampire
• Covered with Scars: Rin's arms, legs, and back are covered in scars inflicted by those who hate and fear youkai. At first people believed that Zakuro was responsible until Rin explained.
• Dark and Troubled Past: She spent years running for her life. Her first friend and the first person she ever felt safe with fell and became obsessed with possessing Rin as a toy. She eventually got away and was brought into Sakura-Shinmachi, but it's clear she was still discriminated against until that point.
• Everything's Deader with Zombies: Despite her cute appearance, she's still dead, which means she can be manipulated by Zakuro.
• Image Song: Sings "Tadaima, Sweet Home".
• Our Jiang Shi Are Different: Though called one, Rin isn't at all like a "hopping vampire" that Jiang Shi usually refers to. Instead of needing a talisman to keep her restrained, instead she needs one to keep her animate (originally a spell written on paper, replaced with a sliver of the Nana-gou with her name on it). She's more like an intelligent zombie that doesn't decompose.
• Not a Morning Person

Shidou Mizuki

Voiced by: Yasuyuki Kase

Shidou is a police officer and one of the few adults of the cast not well past middle age. He's frequently seen patrolling around Sakura-shinmachi, either on foot or driving. His job has a bad habit of infringing on his time with Mina and Kana, his foster daughters. He is sociable and polite, and occasionally a source of wisdom for younger youkai, including Kyousuke.

• The Alcoholic: One piece of trivia describes him as a heavy drinker, but it thankfully doesn't interfere with his taking care of Mina and Kana or his day job as a policeman.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Quite easy-going and amiable for someone who happens to be both an older adult and a policeman. Just don't threaten to harm any innocent bystanders under his watch.
• Bumbling Dad: Shidou is a mild case to his foster kids, Mina and Kana, in spite of his best efforts. It's a Justified Trope, as they became his responsibility after he failed to protect their parents, and his taking them in so abruptly left him inadequately prepared for parenthood.
• Ephebophile: Is hinted to be one, thanks to Juri and Yae's teasing. When Kotoha reveals that she's a lesbian, he's tearfully disappointed.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Shidou may be the physically strongest person around, but he prefers to act as a simple cop and care for Mina and Kana, barely getting involved in the greater conflicts facing the town. Shinozuka, who can toss around garbage trucks single-handedly, backed down from confronting Shidou at a few words from the older man. Shidou has even managed to deflect Hime and the Dragon Spear while she was in a full murderous rampage after Enjin stabbed Akina. And he's not using nearly the full potential of his powers, as the later fight with Rokkaku reveals.
• Meaningful Name: The translation of his family name? The flowering dogwood.
• Our Werewolves Are Different
  • Healing Factor: As a werewolf, he can heal under full moonlight.
• Parental Substitute: Takes care of both Kana and Mina.
• Police Are Useless: Shidou is only barely involved in solving any of the more serious problems that plague Sakura-Shinmachi, though he does help out (by acting as driver) during the Thorny Path arc. To be fair, though, most of the stuff they end up facing calls for more than just brute strength (which Hime, Touka, and Kyousuke already excel at). It also turns out the police are very restricted when it comes to youkai-related activities, until they get orders to act.

Mina and Kana Tatebayashi

Mina is Voiced by: Ayahi Takagaki

Kana is Voiced by: Yuka Inokuchi

Mina and Kana are the twin foster daughters of Shidou. They're 5 years old and attend kindergarten in Sakura-shinmachi. Mina is by far the more precocious and outspoken of the pair, with a penchant for mischief. Kana is a very sedate person even when trying to rein in Mina's troublesome behavior, and is strongly empathetic. Mina has light silvery hair and blue eyes, while Kana has brown hair and red eyes (though in black and white, Mina's hair is actually a darker shade of gray than Kana's, and her irises are lighter). Mina also usually goes bare-headed while Kana usually keeps the hood of her coat up.

• Image Song: Mina alone sings "Ashinami Sorotte Selfish Open Heart!"
• Little Miss Snarker: Mina. She makes a smart remark about some deficiency of Shidou's in nearly every appearance, just to start with. Give her more screen time and she'll keep going.
• Our Mermaids Are Different/Our Vampires Are Different: Mina and Kana are a pair of half-vampire, half-mermaid twin sisters, though each takes to one side stronger than the other.
• Shrinking Violet: Kana is much more soft-spoken than her sister.
• Super Mode: Both girls temporarily physically mature to adolescence when exposed to something related to their heritages. Mina is much closer to her mermaid side than vampire, and matures in water. Kana, who is closer to her vampire side, grows briefly after drinking blood strong in magical power.

Jinroku Yotsuya

Voiced by: Hiroki Naka

Cranky and mildly eccentric, Jinroku is a 60-some year old potter who has no intention of letting age slow him down. His manner is gruff and acerbic, and he can find something to complain about with anyone - which everyone knows is just "Uncle" Jinroku's way of showing concern for the other townspeople.

• Supernatural Sensitivity: Has a keen sense for natural energy flows (such as the dragon pulse), which he mostly uses to pick out good earth and clay for his pottery, and healthy bamboo that won't wither for Tanabata. He used to use it to help Akina's grandfather and Usuzumi align their powers to fight against fallen youkai. He also built his pottery shop on top of the dragon pulse, protecting the "dragon spear" until Hime was ready to take it up.

Kiku Yotsuya

Voiced by: Kujira

Kiku is Jinroku's wife of many years. She is a bluff, good-natured woman who keeps her husband grounded. She tolerates none of his nonsense and often calls him out as the soft-hearted person he pretends not to be, clearly enjoying his embarrassment.

"Okami-san" and "Oyassan"

The proprietors of Hou-Houran ramen shop (formerly Bao Bao Lan in a flashback), where Rin works as a delivery girl and lives in a spare room. They are a husband and wife pair well into middle age, and are as yet unnamed. "Oyassan" (also often called Occhan) is a giant but soft-hearted (and somewhat cowardly) hulk of a man, while "Okami-san" (often called Auntie) is a kind woman with a core of steel. Though Okami-san is about average height, her husband makes her look tiny. They consider Rin the daughter they never had, and are fiercely protective of her.

• Asian Fox Spirit: A flashback showed Akina's grandfather, Hime's grandmother, and Usuzumi Iyo fighting a fallen kitsune who, once exorcised, turned out to be a young Okami-san (and it's known she's not a half-youkai). She definitely has the "kitsune face" design, too.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Okami-san is a deft hand with a cleaver.
• Childhood Friend Romance: The shop used to belong to Oyassan's father, and they took in Okami-san as a child after she had fallen and been exorcised, much as Okami-san and Oyassan took in Rin when she arrived in town. Fast forward about forty years...
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": "Okami-san" and "Oyassan" are what Rin calls them, basically meaning "boss." Yuuhi has called Oyassan "Yoshi-boy," but it's not clear whether his name is actually Yoshi, or it's an insulting nickname. Others also call them things like "Auntie" or "Occhan" (uncle, or gramps). Even in the credits for the OVA, Oyassan is only known as "Houhouran Shopkeeper."
• Establishing Character Moment: Their personalities as well as their dynamic as husband and wife is summed up in their first few pages. Oyassan is first seen entering Hou-Houran, a little bitter about losing a game to Jinroku. But once he sees Rin he gives her a giant hug and asks for her to comfort him. Immediately after, a mildly-concerned Okami-san smacks him on the head to get him to let go of her.
• Gentle Giant: Oyassan.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Oyassan is massive - tall and broad-shouldered, compared to Okami-san's rail-thin physique and average height.
• I Was Quite a Looker: They have a picture up from when they took over the shop. Okami-san, it turns out, was one of the main attractions of the shop and dresses the exorcised Zakuro up in her old work dress as if Zakuro was her own daughter and, as Touka so succinctly puts it, "Occhan's strapping!!"
• Mama Bear: Okami-san.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Okami-san is definitely the stronger-willed of the pair.

Sawaki

Voiced by: Ikumi Hayama

One of Hime's classmates. Sawaki has a newspaper delivery job. She usually appears in the company of Midoriko and Mizuki, and the three were first introduced in the "One of Six" story arc. As yet undetermined whether she's human or youkai.

• Miko: Sort of. She helps manage one of the temples in Sakura-shin, but hasn't been seen doing activities or practices normally expected of the role.
• Only One Name: So far only her surname has been mentioned.
• Those Three Girls: With Midoriko and Mizuki.

Midoriko Amano

Voiced by: Asuka Nishi

Another of Hime's classmates. Her parents own a liquor store, for which she occasionally does deliveries. Appears most often in the company of Sawaki and Mizuki, and is a member of the rhythmic gymnastics club at school.

• Buxom Beauty Standard: Has the biggest chest of Those Three Girls. And apparently because of that, when anyone wants to take a hostage to grope, it'll be Midoriko. (Happens twice in the Lila story arc, for instance.)
• Meaningful Name: "Midoriko" means "green girl". Midoriko's hair is green.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Has a huge crush on Vice Principal Uzu and even proposes marrying him someday since he's still single.
• Those Two Girls: With Mizuki and Sawaki.
• Youkai: Though what kind is unknown, until it's revealed that she's a Tanuki in volume 14.

Mizuki

Voiced by: Yuki Takao

One of Kotoha's classmates, and a close friend of Sawaki and Midoriko.

• One-Steve Limit: Averted, as Mizuki is also Shidou's last name.
• Only One Name: So far only her given name has been mentioned.
• Ordinary High-School Student: The only confirmed human of Those Three Girls, as she goes to school outside of town with Kotoha (an option open only to humans and half-youkai).
• Those Two Girls: With Midoriko and Sawaki.

Supporting Cast

Yuuhi Shinatsuhiko

Voiced by: Sachi Matsumoto

Though he looks like a barely-adolescent boy, Yuuhi is the land god of Setagaya Ward in Tokyo and also the ward mayor. The older brother of Yae, he wandered Japan for decades with her before they both decided to settle down in the area in the early 1800s. He is usually accompanied by Mariabelle, his assistant and lover. Her presence does not deter him in the slightest from getting "hands-on" with other women. Nor does she intervene when he gets a well-deserved beating for it.

• Big Brother Instinct: As annoyed as he can be about Yae's tendency to interfere when she shouldn't, he really does care about her. When Chiaki's reluctance to tune results in Yae getting severely injured, he immediately gets furious.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Emphasis on pervert. He's even groped his own sister, joking that the sibling relationship between gods is a looser thing than that of humans.
• Dirty Old Man / Grumpy Old Man: Acts and talks like an old man in spite of looking like a twelve year old most of the time.
• Image Song: Sings "Kami no Mizo Shiranai".
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yuuhi constantly declares that gods like Yae and himself shouldn't interfere with mortal affairs, even to help. He also often insults the men and sexually harasses the women around him. However, when it comes down to people really getting in over their heads, he'll readily give warnings and useful hints, and sometimes even intercede on their behalf. Simply put, Yuuhi cares: he just doesn't want to look like he does because of his pride.
• Permanent Elected Official: The mayor of Setagaya Ward in Tokyo and the land god of same.
• Reality Warper: To a certain extent within his domain as a land god.
• Really 700 Years Old: Yae's older brother, and wandered Japan with her for a long time before settling down to watch over a territory that has become part of present-day Tokyo.
• Sleep-Mode Size: As a land god Yuuhi is weakened outside of his domain, though appearing as an adolescent boy helps conserve his strength. After settling down as the ward mayor, he remains in this form most of the time anyway because Mariabelle prefers it.
• Smoking Is Cool
• Smug Smiler: When not pissed off or annoyed, Yuuhi always has an all-knowing grin on his face.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Double subverted. He isn't above killing like the rest of the cast is, but when he's about to shoot Rokkaku, Mariabelle stops him and he sticks with purifying him instead.

Mariabelle (Victor Mariabelle Frankenstein)

Voiced by: Rie Tanaka

Mariabelle is a young English woman who has in truth been alive for upwards of 200 years now. She appears most often in the company of Yuuhi as his assistant, usually in a variety of frilly, fancy dresses. It's even chances whether any particular outfit is her own preference or Yuuhi's request, given that she also carries a wide selection with her at all times and needs little prompting to pull them out.

• Cool Big Sis: She wants to be considered this to younger characters, like Hime. She'd rather be this to Juri rather than her aunt.
• Cosplay: Mariabelle likes to dress up in very fancy and fanservicey dresses a lot, and tends to carry some extras around with her.
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: One of her preferred modes of dress since it recalls the fashions of her human life.
• Phenotype Stereotype: Blonde-haired and blue-eyed, of course.
• Really 700 Years Old: 150-200 years old, given that she came to Japan with her father when Dejima was still the only open port for foreigners. Mariabelle and her father's dress and her father's name put them in the early to mid 1800s when they arrived in Japan as well.
• Super-Strength: A side effect of her getting revived. But she almost never uses it, due to not being a main combatant. She's strong enough to lift a tree out of the ground.
• The Undead: Resurrected by her father Victor Frankenstein, but the magic keeping her alive needs a sponsor in the form of another living person keeping it going. When her father eventually died, Yuuhi took on the role of her sponsor.

Kohime Sakurano

Voiced by: Yui Ogura

Kohime is Hime's 9 year old cousin, and a resident of a neighboring town. She looks up to Hime as a role model and tries to imitate Hime in every way possible. She wants to be mayor of the neighboring town much like Hime and the rest of the Yarizakura line has done for Sakura-shinmachi.

• Big Eater: She's trying to keep pace with Hime, after all.
• Dynamic Entry: How she greets Kyousuke with every visit to Sakura-shin.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Subverted. One would think that someone pursuing mayorship at only nine years old would know that Hime becoming mayor of Sakura-shin was only under special circumstances, and that she herself is incapable of running for the position in her own town. In addition, when Akina tries to explain the Hiizumi's "stepping stone" tradition to her, she quickly gives up in understanding and doesn't inquire about it any further.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Thinks becoming mayor of her own town at nine years old like Hime did is a valid option.

Mayor Kazuyoshi Morino

Voiced by: Bin Shimada

Morino is the mayor of the neighboring town where Kohime lives, and has been so for quite some time now. He has a weak-willed and bumbling exterior which hides a slightly stronger-willed yet still bumbling heart. He's ultimately determined to do the best for his town and people, but can be easily pushed to go too far in trying to achieve it.

Eiji Shinozuka

Voiced by: Hideki Taaka (2008 anime), Yuki Ono (Hana no Uta)

Shinozuka is Mayor Morino's personal assistant. He is a reserved young man who feels utmost loyalty to Morino, and considers the mayor's word to be absolute. He is also a half-youkai, originally a resident of Sakura-shinmachi who fell as a child. He felt too guilty over the damage he caused when fallen to remain in the town, and so Morino took him in.

• Adaptation Personality Change: In the 2008 anime, he's changed from a stoic, but upright follower of Morino's ideals to a fanatic devotee of Enjin's plans of revenge.
• Adaptational Villainy: As Enjin's right-hand man in the 2008 anime.
• Boring, but Practical: He's a half-youkai, but does he get any flashy powers like Kotoha or Zakuro? Nope. His strength is all he really needs.
• The Dragon: As Morino's assistant, he will do anything the mayor commands of him.
  • He was this to Enjin in the 2008 anime.
• Foil: To Kyousuke, in many respects, such as their fashion sense, powers, and the extent of loyalty they show to their respective mayors.
• Image Song: "holy sensation"
• My Master, Right or Wrong
  Shinozuka: (to Kyousuke) The mayor's orders are absolute, right?
• Power Dyes Your Hair: In Hana no Uta his hair glows bright pink whenever he makes use of his powers.
• Supernatural Sensitivity: As with Kotoha, Eiji can sense youkai power as a half-youkai.

Tomoe

Tomoe is the only hostess of a humble hot-spring inn in Hakone that the main cast visit due to Ao winning an expenses-paid trip in a sweepstakes. Though easy-going and accomodating, she's a powerful inukami that even Yae admits she cannot defeat, despite her small stature.

• Curb-Stomp Battle: Does this to Kyousuke in both table tennis and in combat.
• Little Bit Beastly: She possesses a fluffy set of dog ears and a tail.
• Little Miss Almighty: She has the notable distinction of not requiring a territory to be tied down to, and thus, retains her godly abilities even when in Sleep-Mode Size.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: In her full form, her yukata is left quite open to accommodate her rather large bust.
• Really 700 Years Old: According to Yae, she's about 1200 years old.
• Ship Tease: With Kyousuke.
• Sleep-Mode Size: Though, unlike Yae, she adopts this form out of preference rather than out of a conscious effort to conserve energy.

Takao Takemura

• Da Chief: Has the looks, smoking habit, and irritable personality expected of the role down pat, which Lila is quick to point out. But ultimately isn't the police chief in Sakura-shin. That would be Nadeshiko.
• Child Hater: Hates it when Shidou brings Mina and Kana along to the police station.
• Cool Shades: They're very expensive, and would explain why he's so fond of them. The frame is made of silver, which Rokkaku learns the hard way.

Nadeshiko Matsudaira

Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa

The young and energetic, but surprisingly meticulous policewoman that works alongside Shidou. Though normally work-oriented, her love for Shidou often sidetracks her and impairs her better judgment. Thankfully, this doesn't keep her from remaining a valuable asset to the police force with a will to be reckoned with.

• A-Cup Angst: Is very upset that she flat compared to most other female characters.
• Da Chief: She's actually the one who's in charge and calls the shots in the police force.

The Senate

The Senate

The Senate is not a legislative body, but instead an advisory organization in the Tokyo metropolitan region, a possible descendant of the Bureau of Onmyoji. Their purview is magic and the youkai. Membership requires at least a theoretical knowledge of Onmyōdō, though practical skill is preferred. As a body, the Senate is concerned first and foremost with the dimensional imbalance between Earth and the Otherworld, and was instrumental in the development of an anti-youkai barrier system that relies on youkai energies to function. Their goal is to banish the Nana-Gou and the youkai from Earth, to keep Earth for humanity.

• Fantastic Racism: As official policy, out of concern that the youkai presence on Earth is dangerous and encourages distortions between the dimensions.

Usuzumi Iyo

Voiced by: Motomu Kiyokawa

The oldest member of the Senate, Usuzumi Iyo is also one of their most capable Onmyoji. He is a hardliner against the youkai presence on Earth, and would happily see them gone. He used to aid Makiharu Hiizumi (Akina's grandfather) and Machi Yarizakura (Hime's grandmother) in exorcising fallen youkai and people, until differences of opinion lead Usuzumi to leave for the Senate.

• Anti-Villain: His goal (and that of the Senate in general) is to save the world, but his choice of methods make him about as villainous as Enjin, from the perspective of Hime and Akina. About the only thing keeping him from being a full villain so far is that he has not yet directly acted on his views.
• Everyone Has Standards: Though he doesn't like demons one bit, Usuzumi is hesitant to talk about Enjin in front of Ao, whose brother is the one Enjin has possessed.

Shidare Morioka

Voiced by: Kenji Hamada

Shidare is the Senate's leading researcher, refining the "mystical" discipline of Onmyodo into a hard science. Shidare is cynical and fairly arrogant, something he considers simply a fair assessment of his abilities, knowing his strengths as well as his weaknesses. He used to be both a police officer and a teacher at university before joining the Senate.

• Badass Bookworm: Probably the most powerful Onmyoji in the Senate currently, and their head researcher.
• Love Triangle: Part of one with his former students Shiina (who is rather forthright in her attraction towards him) and Juri (who is completely unaware that he is in love with her).
• Teacher/Student Romance: Shidare used to teach medicine at a local university where Shiina and Juri were his students. He now keeps an image of Juri as his computer wallpaper...

Uzu Mifune

Voiced by: Yasuhiro Mamiya

The Gentle Giant of the Senate, Uzu Mifune also serves as the vice-principal of the high school in Sakura-shinmachi where he watches over the young youkai of the town. Uzu is forthright and unflappable, and unafraid of speaking his mind.

• Badass Teacher: The vice principal of the school Hime attends, on top of his Senate work and being generally scary and imposing, and a talented Onmyoji in his own right. Being "one step beneath" someone like Shidare is nothing to sneeze at.
• Face Death with Dignity: When Akina comes close to tuning him, Usuzumi, and Shidare, he only closes his eyes solemnly.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Is willing to say and do hard things as a member of the Senate, but can then immediately put the role aside and say something exactly contrary and heartfelt. Probably the most sympathetic of the Senators to the plight of the youkai on Earth.

Noriko Shiina

Voiced by: Yuka Keicho

Shiina is one of the younger members of the Senate, and the only female member yet seen. She is a former student of Shidare's and now his assistant, having followed him to the Senate instead of going into medical school with her former classmate Juri. She strongly favors a technology-based approach to Onmyodo, having studied it as a science with Shidare.

• Sufficiently Advanced Technology: While the other Senate members may be masters of Onmyōdō as an art, Shiina is adept with using technology to replicate what the others can do with ofuda, Kuji-In, and other trappings of the practicing Onmyoji.
• Super-Strength: For no real reason, she is just ridiculously strong. At one point she single-handedly lifts a full wading pool with Mina, Kana, and Ao in it over her head to place it elsewhere.
• Teacher/Student Romance: A former student of Shidare's and now his assistant researcher in the Senate. She gave up on becoming a doctor after falling in love with Shidare and followed him from the university to the Senate.
  • Love Triangle: Her affection is not reciprocated.

Murasaki Iyo

Murasaki is the youngest and most recently inducted member of the Senate, having been studying abroad until recently in the story. He places considerable emphasis on research for its own sake rather than focus solely on its practical uses like the rest of the Senate and doesn't waste time in gathering more data upon his arrival in Sakura-shin.

• Awesomeness by Analysis: At the very least, he's the first to acknowledge that Hime's terrible in unarmed combat and uses this against her. Later, he's able to turn the oni siblings' origins against them and cause them to fade away from existence, although this is halted and reversed.
• Badass Longcoat: A long, black one, like the rest of the Senate members.
  • Clothing Combat: In the odd case that his opponent decides to fight up-close, he can manipulate his own coat to defend himself or augment his own combative abilities.
• Bait the Dog: After bumping into Kohime, he simply smiles and helps her up. Then he says he's going "Oni hunting"...
• The Cameo: Makes an appearance in the end credits of the final episode of Hana no Uta.
• Crazy-Prepared: The main cast more powerful in a group? Just separate them. Concerned about your wellbeing? Use a handy-dandy portable, inescapable anti-youkai barrier! Need to defend yourself? Utilize powerful paper talismans. Need to defend yourself up-close? Enchant pieces of your own clothing so you still won't have to move a muscle!
• Dissonant Serenity: Has an overjoyed expression on his face while tormenting Touka, and repeats this when tap dancing on Kyousuke's Berserk Button by showing Kyousuke a picture he took while doing so.
• Easily Forgiven: Averted. While he's now on marginally good terms with the rest of the cast, Kyousuke makes it a point that he only gives him his and Touka's data because he might be able to use it to help stop the merging of dimensions.
• Kick the Dog: Upon meeting Kyousuke, he's happy to show him the pictures he took of Touka while he was "studying" her.
• Nay-Theist: Even though Sakura-shin's under the domain of two land deities, he doesn't believe in them as such.
• Would Hit a Girl: Is perfectly willing to dissect Touka and make sure she suffers throughout.

Hiizumi Branch Family

Hiizumi Branch Family

A part of the Hiizumi family and Akina's by-now distant aunts/uncles/cousins, the "lesser" half of the Hiizumi family was sent to the Otherworld centuries ago so they might find a way to improve tuning's success rate from the far side. They returned the Nana-gou in their place, the seven giant sakura trees of the Otherworld that act as guide posts for the passage between worlds. In truth, the circumstances around their tuning are not so rosy and self-sacrificing as it may seem - no Hiizumi volunteered, but they were forcibly sent because the members of the main Hiizumi family decided they were superfluous and possibly even a threat to the main family's control over tuning. The Nana-gou are no favor to the world that tossed the family away.

Enjin Hiizumi

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki

Enjin Hiizumi is a direct descendant of Enyou Hiizumi, the head of the Hiizumi branch family that was sent to the Otherworld. The branch family was supposedly sent to find a way to make tuning easier and safer from the other side, but Enjin reveals that in truth they were banished simply because they were "useless" and a threat to the main family's dominion over the power of tuning. Enjin took over the body of Ao's older brother Gin, and used it to return to Earth. He now has the powers of a telepathic Satori along with his powers as the heir of the Hiizumi branch family, and a grudge against the main family big enough to consume the Earth.

• The Chessmaster: He's always manipulated others, but has withdrawn more and more from directly fighting as the series goes on once he realizes the others are developing their own powers to match.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He's still technically allied to a group of youkai hunters, even when he consistently betrays each member that steps up to attack Sakura-shin, but this trope otherwise fits him like a glove.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Dropping, the twin power to tuning, which lets him fell anything he wishes. And tuning, because the two powers are connected.
• Demonic Possession: Inverted. He's a human spirit possessing a youkai. But played straight in that he can inflict it on others.
• The Faceless: Technically speaking, as he's only possessing Gin's body, we have yet to see what he really looks like.
• Fighting from the Inside: Gin's habits are subtly bleeding into Enjin's, and Enjin realizes that Gin is still struggling to wake up.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Kicks the dog in every appearance and is quite happy to do so. However, from what Ao gathers from Mina's brief encounter with him, it's implied he may be invoking this.
• Grand Theft Me: The one possessing Ao's brother Gin, allowing him to steal Gin's powers. He intends on doing the same to Akina.
• Heel–Face Turn: When he finds out Oushuu Hiizumi had been manipulating him the entire time, Enjin is convinced by Akina to join forces to help each other out.
• Master of Illusion: Thanks to his stolen telepathy powers, able to put illusions and suggestions into people's minds. Only gods seem free from his influence.
• Mystical White Hair: In Gin's body. Also crosses over into White Hair, Black Heart for Enjin but not for Gin.
• Pet the Dog: In the 2008 anime, Shinozuka explains that Enjin was the only one who would accept him after he had fallen, whereas he was shunned by everyone else he came across. This earns Enjin Shinozuka's utmost loyalty.
• Sharing a Body: This occurs subtly over time until eventually Gin wakes up during Enjin's Heel–Face Turn. This is an overall nicer version since Gin politely asks to use his body and he and Enjij eventually work together.
• Sinister Scythe: Briefly used one in the finale of the first anime to tear Hime's scarf to shreds in order to try and break her resolve.
• Telepathy: The full suite of powers, and from whom Ao steals a few tricks.
• Vampiric Draining: The powers of his stolen body are slowly waning, so he needs to replenish them by draining power from another youkai. His first attempt is with Ao.
• Villains Never Lie: He doesn't need to. Between his stolen powers and other knowledge, he knows quite well how to push people's buttons entirely with the truth.
  Enjin: "I just wanted him to know the truth and be distressed."
• We Can Rule Together: Offered to Akina for dominion of both Earth and the Otherworld, since he only has diminished control of the powers of whomever he possesses, so that the two working together would be stronger than just him with both their natural powers.

Youkai Hunters

The Youkai Hunters

A band of various people who hunt youkai, they were enlisted by Enjin to aid in the merging of dimensions by attacking Sakura-shin's populace and preventing any attempts to stop it. As each of them are noted to each be a certain type of youkai's weakness, they are all highly skilled and dangerous combatants rightly regarded with much caution by the residents of Sakura-shin. Though they're cooperating with him on the grounds that they'll have more prey once the dimensions merge, they frequently deviate from his plans in order to fulfill their own personal agendas, but are no less effective because of it.

• Assassins Are Always Betrayed
• Carnival of Killers
• Deal with the Devil: Most of them are working for Enjin for their own reasons, but also because Enjin can offer them more power. Enjin tends to only grant it when they no longer want it, or when it would cause problems for both the hunters and the heroes.
• Defeat Means Friendship: This is Akina and Hime's stated goal with the Youkai Hunters. It remains to be seen whether they'll be able to pull it off. So far, they have up through Iruka, though not without a lot of help.
• Demonic Possession: We find out early on that their specific skill sets are abilities granted to them by falling, and that all of them are half-youkai as a result. Averted with Lila, who never fell to begin with.
• Psycho for Hire: Pretty much all of them.

Zakuro Kurumaki

Voiced by: Kaoru Mizuhara

Zakuro is one of the Youkai Hunters, a group of people who have come into power - usually by having fallen - and now use it to hunt and harm youkai for their own benefit. Specifically, she is a necromancer, with powers over death. She signed up with Enjin, along with the other Hunters, to gain more power from felling in exchange for harassing and destabilizing Sakura-shinmachi. Her particular interest is in Rin.

• Badass Longcoat: Sported one when she first arrived in Sakura-shin.
• Blood Magic: In the Hoshi no Umi OVA, she's able to create a much more powerful golem after piercing her hand to spill her blood on the ground.
• Dark Is Not Evil/Bad Powers, Good People: Zakuro worries after her Heel–Face Turn that her powers will tempt her towards misdeed again but is overall a very nice person. Just a very nice person with power over death.
• Dark Action Girl: Though she mostly relies on her golems to defend herself, she can hold her own in a fight up-close.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: In the Hoshi no Umi OVAs, Zakuro takes control of an would-robber that Yae just knocked out so he can shoot Yae, despite how quickly said robber was defeated.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Overlapping with Demonic Possession.
• Humanoid Abomination: When felled a second time. Definitely more pronounced in Hoshi no Umi.
• Improvised Golems: Despite the nature of her powers, Zakuro doesn't much deal with corpses. Instead, she "kills" soil (all the microbes, bugs, and plant life in it) and then manipulates that into giant golems.
• Necromancer: The powers gained when she became a half-youkai.
• People Puppets: After being felled a time or two by Enjin, she can control living people as well.
• Person of Mass Destruction: After being forcibly felled a second time, she claims that she'll add everyone in Sakura-shin to her "collection." Thankfully, everyone in town evacuated before she can make good on it.
• Psycho Lesbian: Her obsessive desire for Rin, treating her as a possession and planning on murdering anyone who had ever hurt Rin.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Wanted to start one against everyone that had ever hurt Rin. Thanks to the gap in her memory, we don't know if it ever came to fruition.
• Start of Darkness: Zakuro was one of the nicest people alive when she first met Rin. Then she fell...
• Supernatural Sensitivity: Again, just like Eiji and Kotoha, Zakuro can sense youkai power, and uses this ability to pick out Kotoha as the "interesting" one to fight in town.
• Technicolor Eyes: In the Hoshi no Umi OVA, fallen Zakuro has yellow eyes with three red rings surrounding the pupil, putting both Supernatural Gold Eyes and Red Eyes, Take Warning into effect.
• Villainous Fashion Sense: Zakuro has always been attractive but dressed much more modestly before she fell. After? Form-fitting body suits and high-heeled boots.
• Yandere: After falling she became obsessed with possessing and keeping Rin for herself.
• Younger than She Looks: She looks like she's in her mid-20s, and lived alone in the middle of nowhere before she fell a few years ago. And yet she's Hime's age, making her no older than 14 when she was supporting herself entirely on her own.

Lila Frankenstein

Voiced by: Ai Kayano

Lila is the second Youkai Hunter to assault Sakura-shinmachi. She is an accomplished magician with a love for theatrics, and would not be out of place on the stage... if she wasn't questionably sane and willing to work for someone like Enjin. She is also one of the less-destructive of the Hunters, caring little to cause havoc around town and interested only in her target.

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When in her "Lily" disguise in Hana no Uta.
• Blood Knight: Had hints of this when the youkai hunters are introduced and in Hana no Uta. She's downright delighted at the idea of the whole world filling with youkai for her to hunt. That this aspect is gone by her next appearance could be the result of Characterization Marches On.
• Catchphrase: "No gimmicks, no tricks."
• Chekhov's Gunman: Had an unnamed speaking appearance in volume 4, along with the rest of the youkai hunters before making a formal appearance in volume 8.
• Creepy Child: Her attempts to win attention resulted in her voluntarily scarring herself and magic tricks growing more and more elaborate such as being skewered by multiple swords. All done with an unerring, visibly crazed smile.
• Demonic Possession: As a Youkai Hunter. She describes the same experience of falling as Zakuro's, as a blast from the sky like a shooting star in response to a wish (in her case, for magic, while in Zakuro's case, to stay together with Rin). Except not actually. Juri actually saved her from being struck by the bolt of Otherworld energy when they were both children, but eventually forgot about it. Everything Lila does is from her own study of real magic. She's not actually crazy because she fell, she's just always been kind of obsessed with Juri and had no sense of proportionate response.
• Flying Broomstick: That doubles as a Sword Cane.
• Hot Witch / Cute Witch: Her figure easily qualifies her for the former, but she has cutesy tendencies and preferences that could also qualify her for the latter.
• Magicians Are Wizards: Shown to have a dedicated love of stage magic and related tricks in her youth, which grew into her eventually developing real magical abilities.
• Magical Girl: Her appearance in Hana no Uta invokes this. She even has a Transformation Sequence when shedding her disguise in the first episode.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The line between which of her abilities are just stage magic and which are outright magic magic can get a little blurry on the lower end of things, though most of her abilities are obviously not simple stage magic.
• Morphic Resonance: In Hana no Uta, she disguises herself as a little girl and calls herself Lily. Lily's shirt is almost exactly like Lila's dress, complete with the same shade of pink and how the straps are on her arms rather than her shoulders.
• Pet the Dog: In one of Lila's first appearances, she gives Kyousuke a huge bouquet of flowers for him to give Touka in apology over a fight. Later as part of her Heel Face Turn she helps Juri save Akina from sliding, and produces more flowers for Kyousuke and Touka.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: All she ever wanted was her sister Juri's approval and love.

Rokkaku

Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto

Rokkaku is the third Youkai Hunter to come to town. He is a half-youkai who gained the powers of werewolves when he fell. He is violent, almost feral, and enjoys the destruction and terror he causes, embodying the darkest stereotypes of a predator gone wild.

• Animorphism: As expected of a werewolf, he can switch between a human form and a wolf form. Still retains this trait even after being purified by Yuuhi.
• Casting a Shadow: Werewolves have power over shadows under moonlight. The shadows are explicitly what's important, not just simple darkness, and the light of the full moon makes for sharper, more distinct shadows than any other moon phase.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Like Lila, he made an early appearance in volume 4 before he becomes the main threat in volume 11.
• Demonic Possession: As with the other half-youkai.
• Healing Factor: Heals under direct moonlight.
• Last Villain Stand: When Enjin abandons him after Shidou takes back "Mina".
• Lightning Bruiser
• Our Werewolves Are Different: Distinct from actual werewolf youkai in that he gained his abilities from falling, though his abilities are otherwise the same. He was originally a normal wolf, not a human.
• Talking Animal: After being purified by Yuuhi, as he remained a half-youkai wolf. Though, it's recently shown that he can return to human form at will despite the purification.

Iruka Kujouin

Iruka is the fourth Youkai hunter to attack Sakura-shinmachi, having arrived at the town to appease the hunger of her sword "Oni-Killer." Though she seems to have trouble keeping her priorities straightened out, she rarely loses sight of her target. This, combined with her honed skill and unique weapon, make her one of the deadliest foes the cast has faced yet.

• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Stops to admire the bright light from Murasaki's new youkai barrier in the middle of the fight between her and Kyousuke, Kotoha, and Akina.
• Animal Motifs: Dolphins, what with the translation of her given name, her dolphin hairpin, and her wearing a swimsuit in her first appearance.
• Blood Is the New Black: This trope is the reason she wears a swimsuit instead of more modest clothing.
• The Cameo: Makes a brief appearance in the end credits of the final episode of Hana no Uta, together with Murasaki and Rokkaku.
• Demonic Possession: As a half-youkai, this is to be expected. As it turns out, she isn't the half-youkai. Oni Killer is. Kotoha was correct in identifying a half-youkai in the vicinity, but because Iruka and Oni Killer are always together, she mistakenly thought Iruka was the one. Played straight, however, in the way that Oni Killer exerted control over her whenever night fell, which includes her attack on Sakura-shin.
• Flash Step: Her being a threat comes from the fact that hardly anyone can predict her attacks or otherwise put a stop to them before they hit.
• Heir to the Dojo: Specifically, the thirteenth successor of the Kujouin style which is marked by her speed and technique.
• Hunter of Monsters: More so than the other youkai hunters that have attacked Sakura-shin. She's there only to kill oni and other noteworthy youkai, rather than for personal reasons or impulses.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner
  • Sheath Strike: She sheaths Oni Killer after every attack, but can still wield him effectively after doing so so she isn't any less dangerous.
• Implausible Fencing Powers: What the Kujouin style seems to excel in, but it's mostly thanks to Oni Killer that she's capable of feats such as slicing through several steel girders at once and cutting objects several meters away.
• Meaningful Name: Her given name means dolphin, and she wears a dolphin-shaped hairpin.
• No-Sell: Akina's tuning seems to have no effect on her, which turns out to be because she's not actually a half-youkai.
• The Oujo: Despite being associated with a gang like the Youkai Hunters, she comes from an affluent family as shown by her being escorted to Sakura-shin by a butler and a limousine following her Heel–Face Turn.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes
• Unorthodox Sheathing: Places Oni Killer in between her legs and pushes it into the sheath behind her vertically. Because Oni Killer enjoys it.
• Zettai Ryouiki: Thigh-high boots variant.

Tropes related to Oni Killer

• Absurdly Sharp Blade
• Black Swords Are Better
• Animate Inanimate Object
• Clean Cut: In spite of its serrated edges.
• Empathic Weapon: Implied. Iruka cuts straight through Akina, but he isn't killed because it "doesn't want to kill humans."
• Katanas Are Just Better
• Serrated Blade of Pain
• Talking Weapon
• Vibroweapon: Punctuated by the rough edges on its blade. While it is initially stopped by a steel girder, it then proceeds to saw straight through without any added momentum.

Flashback Characters

Gin Nanami

Ao's older brother, who conspired with Akina and Makiharu Hiizumi to prevent the blooming of the Nana-gou. He volunteered for tuning to find the secrets of the Hiizumi branch family in the Otherworld. What he instead found was the branch family's descendants, one of whom decided to ride his body back to Earth to exact their vengeance.

• Cat Boy: As a satori.
• Fighting from the Inside: Enjin had thought Gin was entirely extinguished, but it turns out if that was the case he wouldn't be able to use Gin's powers. Gin is influencing Enjin as a result, whether willfully or as a side-effect of two souls in one body.
• Telepathy: Though not nearly as developed as Enjin's use, if Ao's surprise at the power's varied abilities is any indication.

Makiharu Hiizumi

Akina's late grandfather, and former Oyakume as head of the Hiizumi family. He founded the Hiizumi Life Counseling Office and raised Akina himself after tuning his own son as part of the Hiizumi "stepping-stone" tradition. His empathy and willingness to go to any length to save others left a profound effect on Akina and anyone who knew him. He was once one of the town's guardians along with Machi Yarizakura, Usuzumi Iyo, and Jinroku Yotsuya. The four still cast a long shadow over their grandchildren's generation. Akina eventually tuned him to the Otherworld, again as part of the stepping-stone tradition.

• Awesomeness by Analysis: He has an impeccable eye for recognizing offensive patterns and techniques. For example, he caught onto how Iruka sheaths Oni Killer after every attack, and while he isn't successful in getting in close, his noticing this small detail earns him her respect. Later on, he is successful in deducing that Oni Killer, and not Iruka, was the half-youkai and tunes him as a result.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Tuning.
• Generation Xerox: Mandated by the Hiizumi family traditions, and a flashback to 40-some years ago shows Makiharu working to protect the town along with a group of friends (including Hime's grandmother) much the way Akina himself does. It's also strongly implied that Makiharu and his peers faced a similar situation to prevent the blooming of the Nana-gou, but it was their own sons and daughters who made the necessary sacrifice while for Akina it's going to be his generation facing it instead of his children's.

Machi Yarizakura

Voiced by: Tamie Kubota

Hime's late grandmother, and former Mayor of Sakura-shinmachi. She was soft-spoken yet strong-willed, and powerfully charismatic. She was also as brutally powerful as Hime, combining her youkai strengths with a master's knowledge of aikido. As a result she was, much like her granddaughter, the front line against fallen youkai and other creatures in the town while the others supported her and exorcised the fallen.

• Cool Old Lady: Everyone loved her. Hime will probably always be laboring under her shadow.
• Generation Xerox: Not evident until a flashback, but Hime is almost Machi's Identical Granddaughter and they have very similar habits and stories - starting as the Mayor at a young age, going out patrolling even as students, favoring a pole or other staff, and working with a Hiizumi to save the fallen. Justified because in many ways Hime has intentionally patterned her life after Machi's.
• Permanent Elected Official: The mayorship of Sakura-shinmachi is a hereditary position, a tradition from the Edo period. She held it before Hime and passed it on.
• Token Nonhuman: With Makiharu, Usuzumi, and Jinroku, she was the only youkai in the group - as well as the only woman.

Chiaki Hiizumi

One of Akina's ancestors and the Oyakume of Sakura-shinmachi two hundred years ago. Though he comes off as lazy and cowardly in regards to his duty of tuning the town's demons, he is actually more than reluctant to take up the burden of the Hiizumi family due to not wanting to part ways with any of the town's residents.

• Generation Xerox: Looks exactly like his descendant, but is much less comfortable about being the Oyakume than Akina is.

Akane

A former resident of Sakura-shinmachi two hundred years in the past. She fell, but due to Chiaki's unwillingness to tune her, she turned into a half-youkai obsessed with gaining eternal life. This goal led to a relentless pursuit of Mariabelle, an undead woman, as she tried making her way to the town.

• Cool Big Sis: Despite being rather lackadaisy, pre-fallen Akane was considered by at least a few people to be this.
• Freudian Excuse
  Akane: I don't want to die.
• Only One Name: Her last name is never given.

Other Characters

Kousuke Yoshimura

A fanatic gunman convicted of injuring thirteen people in shooting incidents and was in prison for two years at the story's start. However, he escapes prison as a result of gaining powers from being felled and resumes his life of crime. The Hiizumi Life Counseling Office's being ordered to put a stop to it is what kicks off the plot of both the manga and the 2008 anime.

• Ax-Crazy
• Casanova Wannabe: Sort of. He's attracted to the terrified screams of women, who are his only shown victims, but he does flirt with Juri by saying he's a fan of hers. It's played straight in the anime, where he also flirts with Hime in addition to Juri, and gets his comeuppances on both occasions.
• Demonic Possession: But unlike in the cases of half-youkais, the extent to which he was felled implied that he wasn't actually possessed by any demon in particular and was simply influenced by demonic power that attached itself to him. In the manga, Akina didn't even need to tune him to get rid of it.
• Immune to Bullets: Zigzagged. While he's not killed by a veritable stream of bullets Kotoha shoots, he's covered in bruises and just about mentally scarred by the time she stops.
• Small Role, Big Impact: As stated above, his shooting streak at the beginning of the series first begins the story and alerts the main cast about the unnatural falling incidents that are later explained by Enjin's introduction.
• The Watson: An unwitting example. He's mainly there so that the main cast have someone to exhibit their various strengths and powers on.

Silva

A small dog that Hime took in for the sake of finding a new owner. Instead of training him for adoption, Hime quickly grows attached to and spoils him—an act of well-intent that unwittingly leads to disastrous consequences.

• All Animals Are Domesticated: Aversion.
• Canine Companion: Was one to Hime for about a month.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Hime certainly did, but her unwillingness to properly discipline him led to everyone else getting frustrated with him.
• Love Makes You Evil: Grows jealous of Akina due to Hime's transparent fondness of him, which leads to Silva biting and, later, trying to kill him.
• Shoot the Dog: After being felled by Enjin too many times for him to be saved, Akina is forced to tune him to the Otherworld.